Katrina's Lives Lost:	Neely, Michael 1953-2005
Submitted By: 		N.O.V.A March 2006
Source:			Times Picayune 

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In 1993, Colleen Dingler turned to her dad when she discovered, at age 18
and right out of high school that she was pregnant.

I started crying," she recalled."As a father, he wanted me to do more with
my life than become a mother so early. I was young and scared. But he was
positive, and he said, 'We' -- meaning he and I -- 'will get through it,' "
Dingler said.

That statement from him, she said, was "like a building block."And it was
his compassion and understanding, she said, that made the difference
between her life going "into a downward spiral or turning into something
positive."

A photograph taken 11 years ago captured the positive outcome.

"It was taken at his home outside. My father is standing up, holding his
first grandchild in a cradled tight position," Dingler said. "He has lifted
her up to his mouth to give her a kiss, and there's this huge sunflower in
the background. I remember the contrast of a man who was so strong, and my
daughter Madeline was just so tiny -- just a couple of days old. My dad was
so proud and happy, and I knew he loved us."

His three daughters -- Colleen, Sandy and Tracy -- recall their father as a
man with a "free spirit," as comfortable riding his Harley as rolling
around on the floor with his grandchildren. And he was a man, Colleen said,
"who wore his heart on his sleeve."

Neely, who moved in 1988 to the Lakeview home his grandmother built, was a
plant operator for the Sewerage & Water Board and had retired just months
before Katrina. He had ridden out Betsy and Camille. Katrina, in his eyes,
would be no different.

On the morning of Aug. 28, Sandy Sekmistrz called her father from her home
in San Diego and told him she was sure that the storm heading for New
Orleans was"the big one." She told her father that if he didn't evacuate,
he would die.

Neely told her he had no intention of leaving Mouton Street.

"If you die, I'm going to be so mad at you," she pleaded, to which Neely
teasingly replied, "I'm not going to die, but you couldn't be mad at me
anyway because I would be dead."

Over the phone, he assured his middle daughter that if things got bad, he
would put on his life jacket and head to his neighbor's boat parked in the
driveway across the street.

He was wearing the lifejacket when his body was recovered a week later a
short distance from the house. Confirmation of his identity did not occur
until seven weeks after the storm. The funeral was Oct. 29.

"It's haunting to not know when or how he died," Dingler said. But it's
reassuring, she says, to know that "my father's work was done.

"He would be happy to know that his daughters have realized how much they
need each other,"she said. "He always wanted us to be close."